Wire fence



Patented July' I2, |898.

, C. E. WARNER.

wl R E' F E N c E (Application Ifiled Nov. 30, 1891-.)

{No Model.)

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Nite e STAIRS CHARLES E. WARNER, OF IVAVERLY, KANSAS.

WIRE FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters ratentivo. 607,203, dared Jury 12,189s.

Application filed November 30, 1897. Serial No. 660,260. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, CHARLES E. WARNER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Waverly, in the county of Coffey andl VState of Kansas, haveinvented a new and useful Wire Fence, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to wire-fence construction particularly adapted foruse in connection with stock-fences and the obj ect in View is toprovide a simple and efcient tie or connection between twisted or pluralstrand runners and the stays by which they are intersected.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in thefollowing description, and the novel features thereof will beAparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,fli`igure lis a view of a section of fence constructedin accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail side view of theimproved tie, showing the engaged runner in section. Fig. 3 is a detailview-in perspective ofthe tie and the engaged runner-strands.

Similar numeralsof reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures of the drawings.

In order to provide a lock or connection between plural-strand runnersand the intersecting stay, whereby the runner and stay are held fromrelative displacement and whereby at the same time the thickness of thefencefabric as woven for sale is but slightly increased over thethickness of the runners at those points where the runner-strandsintersect in a horizontal or transverse plane, I have adopted a lock ofa construction of which the essential feature resides in twooppositely-extending closed loops centrally arranged in a commonvertical plane with the center of the runner, said loops being arrangedin contiguous but different transverse planes. It is corn- Inon to weaveor interlock a stay-wire with a plural-strand runner in order to preventlongitudinal displacement of the stay; but in practice it has been foundto be a serious disadvantage that this lock adds greatly` to thethickness of the fabric at these points of connection, and hence whenrolled or packed for shipment the bulk is vastly increased over that ofother forms of Wire fabric, or over that which it would have if it werenot for the projection of the lock beyond the opposite side faces of therunners. It is therefore desirable to form a lock which is not onlyefficient and is so interwoven with the runner as to preventdisplacement, but to construct said lock of a transversely-nat form,which-exceeds but slight-ly, if at all, the transverse thickness of therunner itself. I have been able to accomplish this object by connectingthe stays with the runners at those points of the latter Where theintertwisted strands are arranged in common vertical planes and by usingfor the stays a lighter or smaller gage wire than that which is employedfor the runner-strands. Vhere the runner-strands intersect in ahorizontal o r transverseplane, the runner is equal in thickness todouble the thickness of one of the strands, whereas at those points ofthe runner where the strands intersect in a vertical or longitudinalplane the runner is in thickness equal to only one strand. Thus byconnecting the` stay-wire with the runner at those points Where saidintersection occurs in a vertical or longitudinal plane and by arrangingthe portions of the stay-Wire which are disposed at the sides of therunner-strands in different transverse planes or out of transversealinement the coinbined thickness of the runner and stay is only equalto double the thickness of a runnerstrand, and hence only equal to thethickness of the runner at the points where its strands are intersectedin a horizontal transverse plane.

In carrying out my invention I provide the stay-Wire l with a double orgooseneck bend to form upwardly and downwardly extending loops 2 and 3,which are counterparts in construction and shape and of which the sidesare drawn toward each other after engagement with the runner-strands toform closed eyes, through which said runner-strands eX- tend, thistransverse contraction of the loops being efficiently accomplished inpractice by pinching rthe loops after the interlocking operation hasbeen completed; but it is desirable not only to engage theoppositely-extending loops of the lock with the runnerstrands at pointsWhere the latter are arranged in a common vert-ical plane, butto disposethe loops in different though contiguous transverse planes, whereby onlyone thickness of the stay-wire projects transversely at any point beyondthe side of a runnerstrand. In other words, it is necessary, to avoiddoubling the thickness of the stay-wire at any point, to preventprojection beyond the runner at those points where the strands of thelatter intersect each other in a horizontal or a trans verse plane.lThus the lock embodying my invention consists of oppositely extendingsingle-strandengaging closed loops arranged in different transverseplanes, the contiguous portions of the stay integral with which saidloops are formed being also arranged in different transverse planes fromthe loops. By closing the loops to form eyes, as above described, theaccidental displacement of the runner-strands therefrom is prevented,and in addition to this the eyes may be disposed in the common verticalor longitudinal plane of the runner-strands at their points ofintersection in said vertical or longitudinal plane. The thickness ofthe fabric is approximately uniform throughout, and the frictionalcontact of the eyes comprising the lock with the runner-strands preventsdisplacement of the stays longitudinally of the runners, even through aninterval limited by the length of the twists formed by therunner-strands. In other words, I do not depend upon the contiguoustwisted or transversely-intersecting portions of the runner-strands toprevent excessive displacement of the stays, but par ticularly upon thefrictional contact of the stay-loops with the strands, and it is obviousthat the necessary frictional contact to attain this object is securedby the closing of the loops.

A further advantage attained by the peculiar construction of lock asabove described resides in the fact that the strand-engaging eyes of thestay are arranged approximately in the line of the contiguous straightportions of the stay or the defiection of the centers of the eyes fromthe line of the straight portions of the stay is so slight thatlongitudinal strain upon the portions of a stay upon opposite sides ofalock or above and below the same will not have the effect of distortingthe lock by the partial or complete straightening of the loopsconstituting such lock.

I have shown the improved stay and runner-engaging lock as applied to afence having smooth intermedia-te runner-strands and barbed marginal orselvage runners; but it will be understood that the improvement is alsoapplicable to any other form of pluralstrand runner, provided theengagement of the closed loops of the stay can be accomplished at such apoint in the runner as to lie contiguous to runner-strands whichintersect in a vertical or longitudinal plane. It will be understood,furthermore, that I do not desire to be understood as confining myself.`to the use of the lock as a means of attachment to the top and bottomrunners, but more particularly to the intermediate runners,and that anyother suitable means of engagement of the extremities of the stays maybe adoptedsuch, for instance, as wrapping the ends of the stays aroundthe runners. It will be noted,f 1uthermore,that the intermediate runnersinstead of being of the continuouslytwisted construction shown inconnection with the marginal or selvage runners (and by"continuously-twisted I mean to imply that the runner-strands areintertwisted in a continuous direction, whether the selected di rectionbe to form a right-hand or a left-hand twist) are constructed with analternately-reversed twist. In other words, between two contiguous staysan intermediate runner has its strands twisted to the right, while inthe adjoining space, between one of said stays and the next one, anopposite or left-hand twist is formed. The effect of this is to formopposite upwardly and downwardly extending loops 4: and 5, lyingapproximately in a common vertical plane, the centers of the loops beingaccurately in a common vertical plane and being spaced apart asufficient distance to allow the connecting portion of the tie to passtherebetween. In addition to forming an efficient connection I havefound this construction adapted for manufacture with facility andeconomy.

I'Iaving described my invention, what I Claim is l. A wire-fence fabrichaving twisted plu ralsstrand runners, and connecting-stays intersectingthe runners at points where the runner-strands are in commonlongitudinal planes, and connected therewith by means of a lockconsisting of oppositely-extending closed singlestrand-engaging loopsforming eyes which are axially disposed in the common longitudinalplane, substantially as specified.

2. A Wire-fence fabric having twisted plural-strand runners, andconnecting-stays intersecting the runners at points where therunner-strands are in a common longitudinal plane, and provided at eachpoint of intersection with a lock consisting of oppositelyextendingclosed sin gle-strand-engaging loops arranged in different transverseplanes and axially in a common longitudinal plane, the contiguousportions of the stay being disposed at the sides of the runner-strandsin dif-ferent transverse planes from said loops and in the samelongitudinal planes as those sides of the loops which are on the samesides of the runner-strands, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES E. WARNER.

IVitnesses:

J. S. RoBnnrsoN, E. L. WARNER.

IOO

